MOON HOUSE

I was out in Colorado for a wedding and thought I would get a camping trip in while I was there. What better place than Utah. Originally it was to be TJ, Dave and I, but TJ had to stay in KY on work. So Dave and I packed into the car Wednesday at 3pm and started for Cedar Mesa in Utah. The destination was some of the last wild Anasazi Ruins which are completely accessible

to the public with little restrictions.
Ancient Pueblo People or Ancestral Puebloans were an ancient Native American culture centered on the present-day four corners area of the Southwest US, noted for their distinctive pottery and dwelling construction styles. The cultural group is often referred to as the Anasazi.
Archaeologists still debate when a distinct culture emerged, but the current consensus, based on terminology defined by the Pecos Classification, suggests their emergence around 1200 BC, during the Basketmaker II Era. Beginning with the earliest explorations and

excavations, researchers have believed that the Ancient Puebloans are ancestors of the modern Pueblo people. In general, modern Pueblo people claim these ancient people as their ancestors.
The term "Anasazi" is not preferred by their descendants, though there is still some controversy amongst them on a native alternative. The word Anasazi is Navajo for "Ancient Ones" or "Ancient Enemy."

We had found some additional ruins called the Citadel which was on a pinnacle in a canyon. We drove to Utah and arrived around 11pm. We car camped and woke the next

morning and headed to the rangers station. There we had to watch a 30 minute video on the ruins, do steel artifacts; don’t damage the buildings, common sense information.
After that we headed for the citadel. We arrived at the trail head and packed up a small day pack with intention of an out and back, then head to another canyon. We made it out to the citadel, finding some hidden ruins on the way. Once out there we located the large ruin and were extremely impressed. We were back at the car after about 3 hours in the exposed 90+ degree heat. We drove to road canyon trailhead so with ‘Fallen Roof Ruins’ being our

destination.
We took a small power nap at the trailhead hoping to avoid the mid-day heat. At 2pm we headed into the canyon. We arrived at the fallen roof and explored for a good 20 minutes. We continued down canyon learning there were more ruins through extensive research. We went down canyon for a couple hours before turning around and coming back out, seeing multiple ruins in the cliffs above. We made it back to the car around 5:30pm or so and then headed for the main attraction, Moon House. We arrived at the trailhead around 7pm and hiked an additional 15 minutes to a camping spot. We set up

camp and slept very well that night under the dark night skies of Utah. We awoke and headed into the canyon. Immediately after reaching the floor we saw moon house ruins.
Wikipedia describes moon house as “Moon House (sometimes written as Moonhouse) is a Pueblo III-period cliff dwelling located in southeastern Utah on Cedar Mesa. It was created by the Anasazi or Ancestral Puebloan peoples between 1150 and 1300 A.D. Three sections of the Moon House complex are identified by Bloomer (19891); M-1, M-2, and M-3. These are discussed briefly. Structures from the M-1 cluster yield tree-ring dates from between 964 and 1267, with

most rooms clustering between 1125 and 1250. Structures from the M-2 cluster date from between 1109 and 1268. Structures in the M-3 cluster date from between 1044 and 1266, with most dates between 1150 and 1255.Both Dean and Bloomer postulate different rooms served different functions1, and each section of the Moon House complex had a different function. M-1 seems to represent a residential area, with approximately 5 households, while M-2 primarily functioned as a storage area and M-3 as a ceremonial unit dominated by a large kiva. It is interesting to note that Bloomer found no other kivas within the canyon

where Moon House is located, indicating that perhaps Moon House served as a local ceremonial center, servicing the ceremonial needs of the residents nearby in the canyon as well as possibly from the mesa tops.Moon House derives its name from the unique pictographs located within Room I within the M-1 cluster. In recent years, debate has arisen among hikers that visit the southwest over the location of Moon House. Some hikers have argued that its location, being on public land, should be available to the public. The Bureau of Land Management and some professional archaeologists disagree with this. In recent years, the USGS

has removed Moon House, among other ancient ruins, from its 7.5 minute topographical maps.”
We spent more than an hour exploring the ruins and then headed up canyon trying to locate additional ruins. We made it back to the car and then decided to drive back to Denver ending the trip a day early because of the extreme desert heat.